Desert Island X: Group 3 Listening Thread

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that follows U2.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
See posts with no answers
i was going to start talking shit about CIB's complete inability to make even an attempt at a transition between a single track, and then i realized that they were just entirely out of order (i didn't notice until about 6 songs in, because all i looked at was is the 1st song 1st, and it was).

i'll try this again with it in its proper order.


in a lot of ways, CIB and liam's lists are like part 1 and part 2 of a companion list primer for the college freshman who shows up at the campus radio station who doesn't really know a whole lot of music other than what they heard on the radio, or their parents music, or their narrow punk rock background...in other words, it's a lot of the same stuff i figured out pretty quickly my first couple years of college that i was supoosed to know. some of it i did know before (the beatles, husker du, dinosaur jr, rem, fleetwood mac, etc), and then the rest i discovered over time. packaging up these two lists covers like 85% of the more well-known/acceptable because they're not the over-played hits to the standard "college radio" rock music that existed pre-2002 or whenever it was that i started college. it's a lot of familiar territory, where the highlights are pretty much songs i knew i liked before i listened to either list (and the low points, songs i disliked or bands/artists i dislike already and songs i didn't know just confirm that dislike). it's safe, it doesn't challenge me to listen to it, and it's overall decent. nothing i'm going to hate on too hard, and nothing i'm going to rave about how awesome it is either.
 
still not feeling most of these transitions, but they're not absolutely horrible like when i had the thing all jumbled up and out of order.
 
Phanan: the last third of your list wrapped things up nicely. I was especially glad to hear Purity Ring: that album has held up very well for me over the last few years. Goldfrapp as well is a group that doesn't get enough love around here. Then there's Never Let Me Down Again: this might come across as a ridiculous critique, but that song is so epic and awesome in every conceivable sense that having anything after it seems like a crime. Basically there is no way to follow it up. So even though I liked the last two tracks, they felt unnecessary after Never Let Me Down.
 
iron yuppie said:
Then there's Never Let Me Down Again: this might come across as a ridiculous critique, but that song is so epic and awesome in every conceivable sense that having anything after it seems like a crime. Basically there is no way to follow it up. So even though I liked the last two tracks, they felt unnecessary after Never Let Me Down.
Click to expand...


i have to agree on that song, it rules.
 
Neils did you upload your list anywhere? Would like to download it.

I like that everyone seems to share an opinion of Bright Eyes. That made me laugh.
 
Liam: My favorite thing about this list is the prominence of many artists who are never really mentioned around B&C. I try as much as possible to evaluate these lists on their construction and concept rather than how much they cater to my tastes, and in this case, though many of these artists are not ones I can see myself coming back to, the eclecticism of the list kept me guessing and engaged.

Both sides jumped around quite a bit - not that the transitions didn't work, just that many of them were unexpected. I would never have expected to see a Daryl Hall track pop up on one of these, but there you have it. In terms of flow, Nick Drake seemed misplaced, however great that song is; Nothing But Flowers strikes me as something of an odd choice for a Talking Heads song, but the more that particular band pops up on these, the better. On side two, the Codeine and Silkworm tracks stood to me in particular. The latter was an exceptional closer: downtempo but also appropriately conclusive. Mission of Burma is a band I have been meaning to look into, as they are frequently mentioned alongside Wire, and this track served as a reminder that I should do that sooner rather than later.

All things considered, this was an unpredictable but enjoyable list boasting a few artists I need to explore further.
 
Alright, namkcuR, you're up.

If anyone were to legitimately call my tastes narrow, this would be the grounds by which to do it. I have a serious problem with female vocalists, for some reason. Not always, but enough that I'm not looking forward to a list which is entirely comprised of the aforementioned. There's a lot of great stuff on here, though, and a lot I'm not familiar with, so let's see how this goes.
 
Listening to Nam's list too. Pretty solid transitions but just not feeling most of the tracks. It's not my thing. Things I've really enjoyed: Kate Bush (basically any track she's ever done is a winner in my book), Imogen Heap, Katie Melua (awesome track, got to hear more by her), Cranberries.

On the Love Song cover, which I admittedly hate. You know, Robert Smith uses a lot of makeup, isn't that close enough to a female vocal? Also, this underscores my main problem with the list: it's not getting out of first gear.
 
So I'm leaving today for an entire week. I've got RYLA, the camp I volunteer on that I've mentioned a few times. I'm in the next group and would dearly love to be around for group 4, so I am wondering if we could not put that thread up until like the 7th? That's only like one more day than the difference between groups 2 and 3.

It won't affect my listening. I've managed to get through these lists surprisingly quickly actually.
 
I love and hate you for making me listen to anything by Patti Scialfa ever again. The only album Joyful ever threw away.

Lots of great tracks here, some I haven't heard in a while.

Really really didn't like the ending, though, I'm sorry. Those were songs I like on their own, but it just felt like a Golden Age of Cinema greatest hits comp, honestly.

Imogen Heap is the standout here, for me, though, as far as artists I'm only vaguely familiar with, though I have to thank you for reintroducing me to that Garbage track. Hadn't heard it in a long time.
 
I'll never be able to listen to "Something to Talk About" again without thinking of the scene in Step Brothers where Will Ferrell sings it.
 
Okay, post has been eaten three times now.

namkcuR:

- Beginning is a quote from Laurie Anderson's "From The Air".

- The Celtic stuff of Loreena McKennitt is pretty good!

- Moving is one of my least favourite Kate Bush songs, but it's a pretty effective bridge. And hell, it's Kate Bush. I'm totally unfamiliar with Imogen Heap, but she does some cool stuff with vocal interplay and the rhythmic stuff. Lots of little touches.

- Tori Amos does tribal drumming and wordless chanting? With orchestral backing? Sure. Cool.
And then it turns into oversaturated guitar rock? Cool!

- Holy needless harmony Cranberries.

- Nothing Compares 2 U is still a beautiful song. I don't know what or why that is, but very little sounds like it.

- The transition from Beach House to Lykke Li was pretty expertly done. Too bad the Lykke Li song was one of the most boring I've heard from her.

- Joan Baez makes me want to fall asleep, and not in the good way.

- I really hate the trend of slow acoustic covers of alternative rock songs. It sucks all life out of them. You can't do a folk version of "Teenage Riot."

- I don't care what's going on behind her. Natalie Merchant could sing the phone book and I'd be entranced. Good thing there's a really subtle track behind her, full of cool organ parts and piano barks. Catchy.

- I was expecting Patsy Cline to be interesting.

- I could see myself hearing the Patti Scialfa song on a classic rock station. It's very Springsteen-esque.

- Okay, we're picking up with Patti Smith and Blondie.

- I really need to revisit this Sleater-Kinney album. Same with the HAIM song. They're both just good rock songs that I haven't dug nearly enough into.

- There's some sort of weird processing on Chrissy Hyde's voice, and this weird interaction between the guitars. Some post-punk, some rock and roll. Neat stuff.

- I don't know where the hell that Morissette song came from, but man it is creepy.

- Janelle Monae personifies all the worst aspects of jazz.

- The Supremes, on the other hand, kick ass.

- Alicia Keys is like if you update 50s balladry with modern technology. It's okay.

- I really dug that Lauryn Hill track, but that might be because I've heard snippets of it somewhere else? The post-song vignette is needless, though.

- I guess the biggest criticism I have of the list is that it spends too long in low key territory, and so loses my attention as a result. Whether that's because I'm just not into the genres could be an issue. The theme is good, but I think there could have been more variety involved - there's a lot of weird and interesting music made by women that breaks free of the confines of what's expected of them, and I don't see too much of that here, unfortunately.
 
Namkcu: I'm not sure how to evaluate this one. I see what you were going for, but holy hell is this thing long, a problem that is compounded by the middling pace of many of its tracks, which makes it feel much longer than its actual runtime. So although there were some great artists here, the list as a whole was a difficult listen, if I am honest. My favorite part was the jazz vocal section toward the end, although I think another version of Feelin' Good would have preserved that mood more smoothly. Ultimately I think the same impression could have been made with 25-30 tracks instead of the 45 or whatever that are here. For instance I struggle to see what that Bonni Rait - Patti Scialfia duo in the middle adds to this list.

Just as a general question to everyone, are you able to listen through a nearly three-hour playlist in one go? Maybe I just don't have the patience for lists of this length.
 
iron yuppie said:
Just as a general question to everyone, are you able to listen through a nearly three-hour playlist in one go? Maybe I just don't have the patience for lists of this length.
Click to expand...
I almost never listen for more than 90 minutes in one sitting.

Cute Irish Bono:
So your playlist didn't have a clear theme. That's not exactly a problem but for some reason playlists that do have one stick with me more. The classic rock opening was good. It's always been one of my blindspots so it's always nice to hear some new good tunes. Candy Says was a stand-out alongside the awesome duo Heroes and Dreams. You can never go wrong with those two really. One transition that stood out to me was Last Goodbye into Black Star. The latter has an intro that's fun to work with I'd imagine.

Afraid of Everyone and Ceilings are two songs I like a lot and they work well together too. Then there were some bands I'm completely unfamiliar with. I've never even heard of Funeral Suits, The Megaphonic Thrift or Longwave. The first song didn't impress me but I enjoyed the latter two. Inside Out is a great song from a great album.

So I liked basically everything up until the four final songs. Those last few songs didn't do much for me, however. I don't know why but they didn't hold my attention. I like Everybody Hurts of course but that song is a weird closer.

So overal, an enjoyable albeit unspectacular list.

I've also listened to liamcool's list but I didn't pay enough attention so I'll need a second one. It seemed a bit all over the place which is probably the point, but not something I enjoy.
 
iron yuppie said:
Just as a general question to everyone, are you able to listen through a nearly three-hour playlist in one go? Maybe I just don't have the patience for lists of this length.
Click to expand...

Almost every time, but I wouldn't call it a requirement.

BTW, out of respect to Cobbler's wishes, we'll be keeping this group as the primary until Friday.
 
iron yuppie said:
Just as a general question to everyone, are you able to listen through a nearly three-hour playlist in one go? Maybe I just don't have the patience for lists of this length.
Click to expand...

It depends on if the list changes things up. I have a pretty long list that would have been insufferable if it was hanging in the same genre/sound the whole way, but if it flows into other things it makes it a lot easier to get through.
 
Well, the original idea was two discs, so, that's how I'm used to doing this, and how I'm used to listening. But I take breaks if I feel like it, and the list maker didn't leave a space for a break.
 
I listen to these mostly in chunks while in transit. Might be why I'm tending to respond better to the briefer or more eclectic lists this time around.
 
I listen to them while playing video games, so usually from beginning to end on their entirety. But there have been a couple exceptions where it was like ok, why is this list still going, end already. Where I've been like fuck, there's still 10 songs left. Break time to listen to something else. I've been putting off namkcur's because based on comments (and my own general mental block against most higher pitched vocals, which usually means female vocals/Geddy Lee are not often my favorite songs) that make me think it's going to drag. I'll listen to it this week as it's the last of group 3 I've got. But it's long, and everyone keeps saying it never really picks up or changes much.
 
Liam:

I did not like the opening trio. Would it be accurate to call that production sound 70s punk? The loud, almost cheap sounding guitar? I've never been a fan of that. The next couple are a nice change of pace, and the flow into them was fine. The Daryl Hall song was a bit too cheesy (I thought it was Billy Joel for the first minute or so) and while I love St. Vincent, "Now, Now" has never been a favorite (it has that toy piano sound from U2's "Babyface" that I've never been able to stand). After that, I was sort of in and out on the list. I enjoyed the Replacements and Mission of Burma songs. I didn't enjoy this New Order song as much as the one on an earlier list. Overall, I like the idea of the list and the construction of it more than the actual songs.

If anything came of it, it's further strengthening the argument that I need to check out the catalogue of the Replacements.
 
Phanan:

I am entering this list as someone who generally enjoys synthpop but doesn't like 80s production (or something less tangible about 80s music that I can't put my finger on), so I'm likely going to enjoy this more than other entries in the genre since much of this list is post-2000. Not a huge fan of the opening three (I respect Kraftwerk more than I enjoy them), but Little Dragon and M83 are ace here. I feel like I have heard the vocalist from Haerts somewhere before but I can't place her. The middle section lost me a bit, though I did like the one-two punch of Duran Duran and Information Society. We then got into a section with a number of songs I was familiar with but never knew the name/artist with the Yazoo and Goldfrapp songs. I'm a fan of the singles Chvrches released (never got around to the album because I heard it was most filler) so I like "Gun" here. The stretch from Yazoo to Visage is very strong, one of the best of the competition. I enjoyed this list quite a bit and is one of my favorites so far.
 
Alright, Phanan. I also don't care much for Kraftwekr, but that Tubeway Army track was killer. Loved it. I kinda didn't feel like Teen Angst fit where it was, even if it's a great track. Haerts is a band I've REALLY been meaning to check out, so you've convinced me, there. From Cut Copy through to end, I'd say there were only three songs I didn't know, so you obviously sold me there. I especially love, as already mentioned, the fact that you used Blue Savannah. I'm straight up sure, now, though, that I will never like Devo. Not my favorite St. Lucia track, but you can't really go wrong with him. And for the closer, I'm so glad someone else knows that Metroland exists. They've been really on in their most recent releases, I actually may like that stuff more than their 80s material.

Loved it, and I'm glad that you and Travis did different things with your sorta 80sesque lists.
 
iron yuppie said:
Phanan, I'm only a few songs into your list, but this "Push" song is a revelation.
Click to expand...

:up:

iron yuppie said:
Phanan: I'm through the first half or so of your list, and so far I have been impressed with how much ground the list is covering within this synth-driven genre. Kraftwerk is always a good thing, as far as I'm concerned, and The Man-Machine sets the tone well for the somewhat deadpan first stretch of songs. I am partial to this genre, and the first ten or so songs exemplify the reasons why: subject matter can be opaque or even sinister, but those themes are offset by buoyant, vibrant soundscapes. The SPC and Little Dragon tracks stand out in that regard.

Beginning around the Devo track, things get rather frivolous, for lack of a better term: I suspect that was intentional. Erasure IMO is probably the cheesiest band ever to exist (Bono212 will hate me for this, but thank Zeus Vince Clarke left Depeche Mode), but that Duran Duran track manages to be even more campy, especially in the news report outro. That said, I did enjoy those tracks as a contrast to what had come before.
Click to expand...

Yeah, you're spot on. I tried to weave my way through different aspects of the genre, for better or worse.

iron yuppie said:
Phanan: the last third of your list wrapped things up nicely. I was especially glad to hear Purity Ring: that album has held up very well for me over the last few years. Goldfrapp as well is a group that doesn't get enough love around here. Then there's Never Let Me Down Again: this might come across as a ridiculous critique, but that song is so epic and awesome in every conceivable sense that having anything after it seems like a crime. Basically there is no way to follow it up. So even though I liked the last two tracks, they felt unnecessary after Never Let Me Down.
Click to expand...

While it's a killer track, I didn't necessarily think it would make a good closer, but I did wrap it up fairly quickly after that.

Glad you liked it.
 
nielsgov said:
I finished your list phanan. I certainly enjoyed it but I did have trouble with some stretches. You'd think that that would occur more frequently during the last part but I probably liked the opening few songs the least. All those songs are fairly good but nothing stood out, apart from Kraftwerk, so it didn't exactly stick with me. M83 was the first track to get me sucked in. It's another song of his I didn't know and another one I absolutely loved. From then on I enjoyed your playlist a lot more. Home and Dry was great as was Stuck on Repeat into We Are Explorers. I'm a big fan of the latest Cut Copy album so everything from it gets a big thumbs up from me. I also liked the Duran Duran track contrary to the one on LM's list. It's actually pretty funny that I listened to your lists back to back, considering the similarities. :lol:

The section from Neon Neon, all the way to and including Purity Ring was awesome. I loved the disco and the more contemporary synth pop. Each song was basically a stand-out. After that it got more hit and miss. Fade to Grey (I was familiar with that one then) and the closer were the stand-outs here.

I don't think you pulled off the overdosis of synth pop during the whole length of your playlist but there were lots of great songs on there and that one section I mentioned was perfect.
Click to expand...

Overdosis...I like how that sounds. Perhaps not achieving that was a good thing.

Thanks for listening.
 
PhilsFan said:
Phanan:

I am entering this list as someone who generally enjoys synthpop but doesn't like 80s production (or something less tangible about 80s music that I can't put my finger on), so I'm likely going to enjoy this more than other entries in the genre since much of this list is post-2000. Not a huge fan of the opening three (I respect Kraftwerk more than I enjoy them), but Little Dragon and M83 are ace here. I feel like I have heard the vocalist from Haerts somewhere before but I can't place her. The middle section lost me a bit, though I did like the one-two punch of Duran Duran and Information Society. We then got into a section with a number of songs I was familiar with but never knew the name/artist with the Yazoo and Goldfrapp songs. I'm a fan of the singles Chvrches released (never got around to the album because I heard it was most filler) so I like "Gun" here. The stretch from Yazoo to Visage is very strong, one of the best of the competition. I enjoyed this list quite a bit and is one of my favorites so far.
Click to expand...

Thanks peef.

The whole Chvrches album is fairly strong, IMO. I know some others don't feel that way though.


bono_212 said:
Alright, Phanan. I also don't care much for Kraftwekr, but that Tubeway Army track was killer. Loved it. I kinda didn't feel like Teen Angst fit where it was, even if it's a great track. Haerts is a band I've REALLY been meaning to check out, so you've convinced me, there. From Cut Copy through to end, I'd say there were only three songs I didn't know, so you obviously sold me there. I especially love, as already mentioned, the fact that you used Blue Savannah. I'm straight up sure, now, though, that I will never like Devo. Not my favorite St. Lucia track, but you can't really go wrong with him. And for the closer, I'm so glad someone else knows that Metroland exists. They've been really on in their most recent releases, I actually may like that stuff more than their 80s material.

Loved it, and I'm glad that you and Travis did different things with your sorta 80sesque lists.
Click to expand...

The Haerts album is very good. I wouldn't say great, it has a couple of clunkers on it IMO but the pros definitely outweigh the cons. And St. Lucia produced, so yeah.

I stupidly didn't hear the OMD album until after 2013 was done; otherwise, it would have been way up there in my end of year rankings. I think it's one of the best things they've ever done.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

DaveC
2024 NFL Playoff Pick 'Em
2
Replies
41
Views
2K
DaveC
DaveC
DaveC
2023 NFL Playoff Pick Em - Demolish the Dual Dynasty
2
Replies
42
Views
2K
Headache in a Suitcase
Headache in a Suitcase
2861U2
Album of opening tracks / closing tracks
Replies
1
Views
934
Airseven
A
dan_smee
U2 - the lost album
Replies
4
Views
1K
gvox
gvox
Hollow Island
Vulture: All 234 U2 Songs, Ranked From Worst to Best
2
Replies
39
Views
3K
phommel
P

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom